I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vises, and more particularly, to vises where rotating a screw rod causes relative movement of a pair of jaws to engage a workpiece therebetween.
II. Description of Prior Art
Vises are well known in the prior art and are useful for clamping and holding workpieces. A typical vise has a pair of jaws which are moveable relative to one another by means of a screw rod operably associated with one or both of the jaws, whereby a workpiece may be clamped between the jaws by rotating the screw rod along its rotational axis. Many vises are also provided with a base useful for independently and stably supporting the vise on a flat work surface. The base may include one or more flanges with holes for securely bolting the vise to the work surface, or the base may be secured to a work surface by other means such as clamping, suction, or magnetic force.
To control the spacing of the jaws, a handle is provided at an accessible end of the screw rod. To this end, a large hub at the accessible end of the screw rod supports the handle in a hole extending through the hub orthogonal to the rotational axis of the screw rod such that the handle extends orthogonally relative to the screw rod axis. The handle is generally slidably retained within the hole in the hub and is used for turning the screw rod to thereby move the jaws to clamp or release an object placed between the jaws. The handle generally has permanently formed ends which permit sliding of the handle substantially along its entire length within the hole, while preventing the handle from sliding out of the hole. Because the handle must be rotated to operate the vise, operators may injure their knuckles against either a work surface or a workpiece mounted in the vise while turning the handle. Operators may also pinch their fingers between the formed ends of the handle and the hub as the handle slides down during rotation of the handle.
Vises with bases designed to be set on or clamped to a flat work surface present additional drawbacks. For example, the handle limits freedom of location of the vise. More particularly, to effectively utilize the handle, the base must typically be mounted near an edge of the work surface with a portion of the vise, and particularly the handle, extending beyond the edge so that the handle may be freely rotated without impacting against the work surface. The overhanging portion of the vise and the handle also present safety issues. Persons moving about the work area often run into the protruding portion of the vise or the handle. The overhanging portion of the vise and handle can also present obstruction and safety concerns for dollies or fork lifts that may be required to navigate in or through the work area. Similar problems are created in mounting vises to work vehicles, such as trucks or the like.
Prior art vises also suffer from difficulties in sufficiently clamping a workpiece using the handle. To gain additional leverage with respect to the handle in order to sufficiently clamp a workpiece, many times an extension, such as a length of pipe, is fitted over the handle. Some have also used hammers to impact the handle or the extension placed over the handle, in an attempt to improve clamping against a workpiece positioned in the jaws. Use of extensions and hammers in this manner present further safety issues, and may damage the workpiece or the vise. Finally, conventional vises are slow and cumbersome to control using the handle when the jaws of the vise must be moved towards (e.g. to close) or away from (e.g. to open) each other over more than a short distance, or when they must be repeatedly opened and closed about one or more workpieces.
The present invention provides jaw control which reduces or eliminates the problems associated with conventional vises which provide control by a handle orthogonally and slidably received in the hub. To this end, and in accordance with the principles of the present invention, an aperture sized and shaped to receive the anvil of a drive mechanism is provided at the accessible end of the screw rod extending along the rotational axis of the screw rod. The drive mechanism anvil projects from a torque driver and is rotatable thereby. When the anvil is inserted into the aperture along the screw rod rotational axis, that axis and a torque axis of the drive mechanism are substantially aligned such that rotation of the anvil about the torque axis causes the screw rod to rotate thereby moving the jaws relative to one another. The aperture is advantageously shaped and sized to receive the anvil of a standard drive mechanism, such as a pneumatic impact wrench, an electrically powered screw driver-like device, or a ratchet wrench.
By coupling the screw rod to a drive mechanism along the rotational axis, such as via the aperture and the anvil, the orthogonal handle may be dispensed with. The vise may thus be utilized with driving mechanisms that reduce or eliminate the tendency to impact against work surfaces or body parts. Further, the aperture is readily accessible to the anvil even when the vise is mounted on a work surface well away from any edge thereof, thus allowing for control of the vise jaws without the drawbacks of vise parts overhanging the work surface or jutting out therefrom. Additionally, the drive mechanism allows for quick rotation of the screw rod, and readily achieves multiple, repeated openings and closings with ease. The drive mechanism may also impart substantial torque to the screw rod via the anvil and aperture such that a workpiece may be tightly gripped without the need to resort to extensions or hammers to achieve extra leverage, either to open or close the jaws.
The aperture may be provided directly in the accessible end of the screw rod, either by forming same in, or integrally attaching a hub with the aperture formed therein to, the accessible end of the screw rod. Alternatively, the aperture may be supported on a fitting which can be removably coupled to the accessible end of the screw rod.
There may be some situations where the operator may wish to have manual control over the vise jaws, such as was provided by the conventional handle. By way of example, use of a drive mechanism with its rotatable anvil may not be desired when working with delicate workpieces or for fine adjusting control. To this end, and in accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a handle may also be associated with the accessible end of the screw rod and extending orthogonal to the rotational axis thereof so as to provide movement control by use of the handle in a more or less conventional manner. The handle may be rigidly secured to the accessible end of the screw rod or to the fitting. Where the handle is rigidly secured, its length is advantageously less than the distance between the screw rod rotational axis and the bottom of the base so as not to impact the work surface as it rotates.
Alternatively, a handle-receiving hole may be provided at the accessible end of the screw rod, either directly or via the fitting, which hole extends orthogonally to the screw rod rotational axis. The handle may be received in the hole, and may advantageously be removably received therein. When the handle is removably received, the handle may be long to provide the traditional handle function, but may be removed as desired or necessary. To this end, the handle may include a protrusion sized to retain the handle in the hole in the hub while the handle is being used to manually rotate the screw rod. The protrusion may include a spring loaded member which may move out of the way as the handle is inserted into or removed from the holes. The protrusion may be at the end of, or centrally located on, the handle. The protrusion may further be selectively removable from the handle to facilitate removal of the handle from the hole.
By virtue of the foregoing, there is thus provided a jaw control for a vise which reduces or eliminates the problems associated with conventional vises which provide jaw control by a handle slidably received in the hub. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention shall be made apparent from the accompanying drawings and description thereof.